The Journal of Plymouth Rock Ranch

In honor of 4 Moms 35 Kids:  Cooking for a Crowd recipe day at In a Shoe, I’m reposting this favorite family recipe.

Yesterday afternoon, Larissa made a quintuple recipe of Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Waffles. Quintupling the recipe was a good use and practice of her math skills. It was also a good use of 2 of the 60 some cans of pumpkin I got on sale this past year for 25 cents/can.

We had some whipped cream frosting left over from Boo’s Birthday cake, so several of us snitched hot pumpkin waffles hot off the waffle makers and dipped them in the whipped cream. Mmm….mmmm….good!

Sorry, there’s no pictures of her afternoon project. But, trying the recipe yourself will be much better tasting than any picture we can post here!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Waffles

7 1/2 C whole wheat flour, fresh ground

5 T cornstarch

5 T baking powder

5 t ground cinnamon

2 1/2 t ginger

1 1/4 t nutmeg

3 3/4 C canned pumpkin

10 large eggs, separated

5 C milk

1 1/4 C real maple syrup (or honey or other chosen sweetener with the cost of maple syrup so high now)

15 T butter or coconut oil, melted (or try applesauce for an oil free version)

5 t vanilla extract

15 large egg whites (using 10 whites from separated eggs + 5 more)

We try to be far ahead enough in our meal preparation to soak our grains and flours overnight in a liquid/kefir, yogurt or vinegar mixture to break down the phytates in the grains. But, life happens every day so we’re not always usually not as ahead of the game as we’d like to be and our grains don’t get soaked. Here’s the normal, everyday, get-it-baked-now recipe:

• Preheat Waffle Maker on setting #4.
• In lg bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Stir to blend and reserve.
• In a second bowl, combine the pumpkin, egg yolks, milk, maple syrup, melted butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth.
• Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
• In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into batter.
• Bake in Belgian Waffle Maker

We serve our waffles with a variety of toppings. The topping for this batch was the leftover whipped cream icing as stated above. Sometimes we’ll whip cream with maple syrup for the sweetener and flavoring. Other times we use the traditional butter and maple syrup. We use real maple syrup as all of the fake pancake syrups are made from high fructose corn syrup, which is in way too many things these days and is so not good for us. I feel a rant starting……

Just check the labels of things you buy. Hot dogs, lunch meats, canned fruits, yogurts, breads, baked goods, ketchup and sauces, and the list goes on. HFCS in soooo many things. I have pared down my grocery list by just checking labels and not purchasing items with hfcs in them.

Want to pare down even more? Eliminate buying things that have msg or “spices” on the label. MSG is an excitotoxin that creates a desire to eat more. Eating more msg and hfcs puts us on a bad food merry go round. We avoid both as much as we are able. End of rant……. Back to our waffle toppings list….

Other times we use apple sauce and still other times, we’ll make Dad’s Berry Gravy. That entails heating frozen berries on the stove and adding some water and sweetener like honey or organic sugar. Simmer a few minutes and add corn starch to thicken into a berry gravy. Whalla!

If you have a large family like ours, then you’ll appreciate the recipe already being quintupled for you. If you have a smaller family, consider using the quintupled amounts and just freeze leftover waffles for future breakfasts. You can easily pop them in the oven to defrost and crisp up or pop them in the toaster or toaster oven, if you have one.

Unless we make a double quintuple batch, our waffles generally do not see the coldness of the freezer : )

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